Monthly Archives: March 2014

I drove past this house last fall and decided it wasn’t log. It’s too tall, the proportioning isn’t right, and the configuration of the door and windows is strange. It isn’t Norwegian, that’s for sure. And the failed gutter on the front gives the illusion the whole house is sinking into itself like framed houses so often do. Last week I was taking the back roads up to La Crosse, WI for school and happened past the place again. I hiked up to it and sure enough, it’s a very big two-story log house.

It measures 18’x26′. The proportioning is a bit odd, as it’s too narrow and rectangular given its overall massing. And given the fact the windows are inset so far in from the opposing gable ends, it’s unique to say the least. The logs are all oak and the corners are inverted V, a characteristic of the German-American tradition. In my humble opinion, the V kind of sucks (no offense): It’s really difficult to minimize the log spacing if you’re working with large timbers and aren’t willing or don’t have the knowledge to reduce the notch smaller than the overall tree diameter. The result is huge spacing between log courses. Notice the 1′ or so gap between the first and second floors? Yikes.

There are very few full two-story log houses that survive unoccupied in my area, so finding something like this is pretty special. In fact, it made my whole week. The 1878 and 1896 Houston County plats both show the house as owned by Charles Martin. In general, the township appears to be German settled. And surely the house is not much older than 1878 given its size and exterior ornament.